Cullen
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast here for our big grand episode of three 0 to 30 episodes now, which is to say, it feels like we just started this thing. I know we're going to kind of continue on. Our Clark and I as as per usual, are going to kind of continue on our little exploration outside of of just Herzog.
00:00:34:04 - 00:00:34:11
Cullen
And we're.
00:00:34:12 - 00:00:36:10
Clark
Oh, it's not going to be little Colin It's.
00:00:36:15 - 00:00:36:20
Cullen
Not.
00:00:36:20 - 00:00:38:01
Clark
Huge that's going.
00:00:38:01 - 00:00:39:00
Cullen
Across the wasteland.
00:00:39:02 - 00:00:58:21
Clark
In this in the same way in the same way that the that Mad Max two opens on Academy frame and it expands into Cinemascope when we see the last of the V8 interceptors in his and they're fake this supercharger blower coming to frame. We're going to expand our horizons right.
00:00:59:10 - 00:01:00:16
Cullen
Yeah so so as.
00:01:01:07 - 00:01:01:10
Clark
You.
00:01:01:12 - 00:01:17:11
Cullen
Can probably surmise from here, we're going to do a mad Max day. We're going to be doing the first the original trilogy of Mad Max. So excluding Fury Road, just because that's kind of a different beast. Yeah. So we're doing the the original 79 and then Road Warrior and Thunderdome.
00:01:18:00 - 00:01:19:01
Clark
And so I think.
00:01:19:01 - 00:01:37:04
Cullen
This will be a lot of fun. I mean, it had been for me ages since I'd seen the actually I'd never seen Thunderdome before. I'd seen all this on television. Oh, this would be like on reruns over the years. Yeah. But I've never just sat and watched the entirety of Thunderdome, whereas I remember I think the first one I saw as a kid was Road Warrior.
00:01:37:04 - 00:01:43:08
Cullen
And then I saw Mad Max one a few years later. I didn't realize that Road Warrior was a sequel for a really long time.
00:01:43:12 - 00:02:01:14
Clark
So yeah, let's, you know, so let's talk about that real quick. So I want to it's interesting. I oh, it's always fun, you know, especially with films like this. And of course by, you know, by today, especially since the release and the wild success of Fury Road. Yes. You know, everybody knows Mad Max. Mad Max is we're going to talk a little bit.
00:02:01:18 - 00:02:09:14
Clark
You know, he's that character and especially certain aspects of the Thunderdome film have become part of pop culture that.
00:02:09:20 - 00:02:10:19
Cullen
Lots of video game, part of.
00:02:10:19 - 00:02:16:18
Clark
The lexicon. It is, you know, like there are it's just permeates our culture.
00:02:16:18 - 00:02:18:13
Cullen
But it was it's a job in and of itself.
00:02:18:13 - 00:02:19:02
Clark
So John.
00:02:19:09 - 00:02:22:11
Cullen
Described something as like Mad Max ish, you know, But.
00:02:22:11 - 00:02:43:17
Clark
But it hasn't always been the case. And of course, like we have like, you know, you and I are a generation apart. We are, what, about 20 years apart? And so it's I always love to kind of compare how we came into, you know, what our relationship is with these films that we're reviewing or not really reviewing but were discussing.
00:02:44:01 - 00:03:05:11
Clark
And this is especially interesting to me. You know, there's so much analysis that's been done about these films, like I was kind of hinted at. So these films are you know, everybody knows these films. They're hugely popular. Anybody who's a fan of cinema has likely seen these films at least once. And certainly you're aware of them and kind of have a vague idea of their impact.
00:03:05:11 - 00:03:24:04
Clark
So there's been so much analysis and so much so many words, you know, ink spilled on these films. And so I don't think that you and I are going to be able to, you know, to provide anything kind of new really in that realm, except and this is what I love about this podcast, our own personal relationship with those films.
00:03:24:10 - 00:03:43:12
Clark
Yeah. And that's what's so fun to me about cinema, is that really, you know, half of that art form takes place in the mind of the audience. So so I'm really interested to see how the difference between how you and I came to these films. So tell me a bit about that. Like again, you're 20 years, you know, you're 20 years younger than me.
00:03:43:12 - 00:03:48:23
Clark
So how did you kind of how did these films find their way into your life and what was your experience?
00:03:48:23 - 00:03:57:07
Cullen
So I was I think, probably eight at the time. My uncle showed me Road Warrior. He used to. I used to.
00:03:57:07 - 00:03:58:12
Clark
That basically was always.
00:03:59:01 - 00:04:03:16
Cullen
Oh yeah, he used to basically just show me movies that were like probably way too old for me.
00:04:04:00 - 00:04:04:06
Clark
I remember.
00:04:04:14 - 00:04:06:07
Cullen
That's awesome as a kid. And like.
00:04:06:07 - 00:04:06:18
Clark
Now, of.
00:04:06:18 - 00:04:18:17
Cullen
Course, this, you know, a whole bunch of other like Apocalypse Now I think was one of them. But so he put on and he always had like the biggest TV, you know, this is back probably like 2005 And he had, you know, it's like So would.
00:04:18:17 - 00:04:21:09
Clark
That be like a weird project? Oh, he had a flat screen by then.
00:04:21:09 - 00:04:28:17
Cullen
Yeah, he was one of the first people I ever knew, like it was when flat screens were first coming out and they were probably like ten grand. Yeah, Yeah, that's insane and all that. So.
00:04:29:00 - 00:04:30:04
Clark
Oh, that's why I remember.
00:04:30:04 - 00:04:49:12
Cullen
I remember him putting on Road Warrior and it was like I mentioned this to you earlier, but there's a visceral memory that I have. And even though it's been so many years since I had seen it, I still always remember this one visual of him right at the beginning of the movie, when he pulls open the door of the tractor trailer and like the body falls out on him.
00:04:49:12 - 00:05:00:01
Cullen
Right. And that terrified me as a kid. Like that was what I thought. That's kind of why as a kid, I always thought of these movies as horror movies. Like they weren't post-apocalyptic. They were like, scary. Yeah, you know, zombie flicks or something.
00:05:00:01 - 00:05:00:10
Clark
Yeah.
00:05:00:21 - 00:05:18:10
Cullen
And yeah. And so that was my first experience with it. I remember thinking it was insane and that it was like this very weird. I think I kind of watched such a great scene almost back to back with Blade Runner. And so I kind of almost have this weird connection between like, I think as a kid I made up this, this almost like mythos in my head that, that I do too.
00:05:18:10 - 00:05:23:16
Cullen
Mad Max was the, the, the country of Blade Runner like they existed in the same world and that was.
00:05:23:16 - 00:05:24:00
Clark
Like the.
00:05:24:00 - 00:05:25:15
Cullen
World city And then yeah, yeah.
00:05:25:19 - 00:05:47:09
Clark
It would be like that country. Well it's you know, I don't think you're alone in that. You know, I have a similar connection, but okay, so, so you saw wrote where you're first and it sounds like it had a bit now what did you think of it outside of being kind of you know it was impactful. You were kind of like freaked out by the scene where in the first few minutes where Max is being chased.
00:05:47:15 - 00:05:49:22
Cullen
Yeah. And there's a few jump scares and stuff.
00:05:49:23 - 00:06:09:18
Clark
He, like, flips the script and he, you know, he, he gets them and right. He, he comes across a tanker truck, which ends up being pivotal to the story later. And and so he opens the cab door and out falls this seriously awesome looking grotesque dummy with like and there's.
00:06:09:18 - 00:06:14:01
Cullen
Like a real sound effect as it does like and there's like, it's alive.
00:06:14:07 - 00:06:26:00
Clark
Oh, God. There's, there's some great sound effects in this. You're right. There's a great screams that I remember as a kid. Like, I watched it on VHS. And so there's no real good, like, pause functionality.
00:06:26:08 - 00:06:27:19
Cullen
On the way to the tape, too.
00:06:28:00 - 00:06:43:22
Clark
But I remember trying to, like, pause it, like, right on the because that that dummy is only in frame for like, I mean, it's only on screen for like six frames or I mean, it's very, very, very short. And so I remember trying to pause it like, how did they do that? Was that like a guy and make up a dummy?
00:06:43:23 - 00:06:50:09
Clark
Like, what was that? And I remember just like being mesmerized. Okay, So, so what did you think of the whole film when you.
00:06:50:09 - 00:07:10:08
Cullen
Oh, I mean, I remember it was one of those things again that I loved, like, yeah, like very similar to what we were sort of talking about in the personal kind of stories episode that we did two episodes ago. It was like anything that, that point that scared me or like, you know, made me go away from the movie but still think about it and still kind of be affected by it was always something that I really liked.
00:07:10:08 - 00:07:21:11
Cullen
And and so I was never I would never say that I was, you know, even as a kid, I wouldn't say that I was a fan of Mad Max because I didn't watch it that much. You know, I think I only saw it probably twice as a kid.
00:07:22:01 - 00:07:23:18
Clark
Now you're talking about no road warrior.
00:07:23:18 - 00:07:24:22
Cullen
Road Warrior, sir. Yeah, Road.
00:07:24:22 - 00:07:28:11
Clark
Warrior. Because you hadn't seen Mad Max yet. You saw Road Warrior First and most.
00:07:28:12 - 00:07:42:09
Cullen
So I thought that it was just. Yeah, I thought it was just the one. I didn't know there was a third one. I didn't know there was a first one. I thought that the Road warrior was just because, of course, I'm not quite sure what the marketing was, but I know that it was initially marketed as Mad Max two and then changed.
00:07:42:09 - 00:08:11:01
Clark
To, well, Road Warrior. Right. So I'll clarify a little bit. So in North America, the films were marketed slightly differently around the world, but in North America, it's my understanding that so the original Mad Max film, which is was released in 1979, was actually a huge success in Australia. Matter of fact, it was the most successful independent film ever made until Blair Witch and in the World.
00:08:11:01 - 00:08:30:11
Clark
Not not just at all. Yeah, but it was extremely successful in Australia. So when it was sent over to the United States, a couple of things happened. It was, well, the first film I'm talking about, I actually, you know, it might have been because Road Warrior was made so quickly just two years. It was released after Mad Max.
00:08:30:11 - 00:08:31:11
Cullen
Yeah, 79, 80.
00:08:31:12 - 00:08:53:22
Clark
I can't remember exactly. You know, we're going to somebody is going to be able to clarify us and clarify for us in a comment or something. But maybe the Road Warrior was released in North America, either maybe slightly before or about the same time or, you know, there was something kind of timing situation there where the distributors in North America said, you know, nobody's going to know who Mad Max was.
00:08:54:02 - 00:09:02:20
Clark
People in North America hadn't seen Mad Max. There wasn't a theatrical distribution. Of course, they I think they underestimate that. How popular Mad Max had been on VHS.
00:09:02:20 - 00:09:03:15
Cullen
VHS and home.
00:09:03:15 - 00:09:13:21
Clark
Base. Right. So they they said, you know, hey, look, no, it's not Mad Max two, let's call it something else. And so the road warrior was its original release title in North America, right?
00:09:14:00 - 00:09:14:18
Cullen
Kind of, yeah.
00:09:14:20 - 00:09:24:11
Clark
It was only later, once, you know, the films really had a wide audience. They had I think they tacked back on, you know, like Mad Max to that.
00:09:24:11 - 00:09:27:00
Cullen
Yeah. Now it's kind of Mad Max to Colin the Road Warrior.
00:09:27:01 - 00:09:32:07
Clark
Exactly. But I always knew it. It was just the road warrior me to go Mad Max anywhere. Yeah.
00:09:32:18 - 00:09:49:06
Cullen
Yeah, I was. So that was exactly it for me. It was that I. I only knew it as like it was. It was kind of funny. This is a bit of a, you know, unrelated, but I remember my friend had the same experience with, like, start, like he saw Star Wars 77 and didn't know that there were any sequels.
00:09:50:01 - 00:09:50:06
Clark
This.
00:09:50:06 - 00:09:59:10
Cullen
Time. But it was the same thing for me. Was I? Yeah, I saw The Road Warrior and I thought that was it. Yeah. And then it was probably not until I was like maybe in grade nine.
00:09:59:14 - 00:09:59:20
Clark
Okay.
00:09:59:23 - 00:10:09:12
Cullen
So, you know, arguably, maybe like 8 to 10 years later. Okay, I did. I watched Mad Max one.
00:10:09:20 - 00:10:12:05
Clark
Okay. Now, how did you find out about that film? Was that were.
00:10:12:05 - 00:10:23:00
Cullen
You. I think I knew it. Like, I think I pretty much, you know, in middle school and stuff, found out that there was a first Mad Max and just never really got around to watching it. And of course, then there was no like Netflix. There was no.
00:10:23:01 - 00:10:24:05
Clark
Sure how much hard that.
00:10:24:05 - 00:10:48:13
Cullen
Was back when you still had to go to Blockbuster and get it. And usually when my family go to Blockbuster on a weekend, it would be to get it something that we would all want to watch. So I didn't really have the say to can convince them to get the next one, but but yeah so I finally watched it probably in grade nine and I remember loving it, but I remember thinking like again, as a kid, the road Warrior was always like the cooler one because it was bigger.
00:10:48:13 - 00:10:49:07
Cullen
It was. It was more.
00:10:49:07 - 00:10:50:09
Clark
Bigger. There's more of.
00:10:50:09 - 00:11:08:09
Cullen
Bombastic, more action. And what I found what was so funny about this time, I watched it and again, it's been so long since I watched either the first or the second that I found myself. You know, I love both of them, but I found myself enjoying the first one a lot more interest like I found when I could watch them right back to back, all in one night.
00:11:08:19 - 00:11:21:16
Cullen
And so I watched the first one and I was like, Man, this is awesome. I forget how I forgot how intense Max's intro is and how yeah, you know, how it's how grounded it still is. Like, I love that it's still got the the idea like they go into a Yeah.
00:11:21:16 - 00:11:28:03
Clark
Especially the whole like the whole like second act you know I mean whole there's a huge chunk of that film that is, you know.
00:11:28:09 - 00:11:29:20
Cullen
Where it's like all romantic and stuff.
00:11:29:20 - 00:11:33:08
Clark
Yeah. It really, like, changes radically so and so.
00:11:33:12 - 00:11:38:17
Cullen
And, but I just found myself really loving that, and I don't know why, but I just much more than I had in the past. And then I.
00:11:38:17 - 00:11:53:00
Clark
Want to go into that. Yeah, we'll go into that in detail in a bit. Yeah. Yeah. And so, so okay. So it was, you see Road Warrior first as a young kid, your you're like a freshman in high school when you see Mad Max. And then where did you catch Thunderdome is that.
00:11:53:18 - 00:12:13:14
Cullen
It was always on, it was one of the things it was like on AMC and something that's that's just kind of you see on TV at all. Yeah, I'd never so I would just see it, you know, I probably honestly seen it a few, not a few times, but I'd probably seen tweets from it as a kid and not known that it was had anything to do with Road Warrior because it is I got another one of those examples where it's like it's very different.
00:12:13:14 - 00:12:17:00
Cullen
He doesn't have his car in a car chase in. It is really the ending.
00:12:17:07 - 00:12:18:05
Clark
It's a train chase.
00:12:18:05 - 00:12:29:16
Cullen
He's got long hair. He's got, you know, even just it's much more I would say what what Thunderdome reminds me a lot of is like kind of like Willow, almost like that, like a style of sort of sci fi.
00:12:29:18 - 00:12:31:21
Clark
Especially in the second half that yeah.
00:12:32:02 - 00:12:33:05
Cullen
When they get to the kids in that.
00:12:33:05 - 00:12:42:12
Clark
Yeah. And there's a huge tonal shift and we're going to talk about that too, a little bit as well. You know, George had a different partner on that film. Of course, Byron doubled.
00:12:42:12 - 00:12:43:15
Cullen
The budget of the previous.
00:12:43:16 - 00:13:03:03
Clark
Double the budget. It was PG 13 as opposed to R for the first two. And, you know, Byron Kennedy was, of course, no longer alive after the first two films who was, you know, integral to the creation of Mad Max, co-creator with George Miller. So, you know, definitely a lot of different probably a lot of studio pressure.
00:13:03:18 - 00:13:09:06
Cullen
Yeah. But I actually well, I don't know. I don't know what you're like Beyond Thunderdome is, but I actually liked it a lot more than I expected, too.
00:13:09:18 - 00:13:17:07
Clark
I actually like it quite a bit. I'm actually a big fan and and, and I've been a big fan of all three films for a long time. So. Yeah, yeah.
00:13:17:09 - 00:13:28:23
Cullen
I saw when I was going into it again, having only seen, you know, probably maybe a half hour to 45 minutes of it at a time on again, like AMC, like I've probably seen the ending and maybe the opening.
00:13:29:03 - 00:13:31:06
Clark
Three times and edit it and.
00:13:31:07 - 00:13:47:18
Cullen
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And probably on an old like CRT screen or something. But I remember, you know, and then you just get the kind of like pop culture lingo of like, oh yeah, the third one sucks. The third one's not the good one. The third one, you know, is so different, blah, blah, blah, it doesn't have a car chase.
00:13:47:18 - 00:14:05:03
Cullen
And so you just kind of get into your head this idea that it's like, I'm probably not going to like the third one. It's probably going to be, you know, the one that just kind of falls flat. But no, I was like, this one's really again, I think if you go into the third one expecting the road warrior, your gut, you're not going to get that because that's.
00:14:05:03 - 00:14:18:00
Clark
Probably what a lot of that's probably what happened. I mean, I even remember at the time, I because I was I was old enough to actually I saw that film in the theater. So this Thunderdome I actually saw in its original and.
00:14:18:02 - 00:14:19:01
Cullen
It was 85, right?
00:14:19:01 - 00:14:36:15
Clark
Yep. And it's you. I was nine years old and I actually remember seeing that film in the theater. I liked it a lot. But yeah, for me, real quick, just to kind of kind of pair our show, you know, kind of contrast my experience with the films real quick. And then, yeah, we'll go into some of how the films were received and some other things.
00:14:36:15 - 00:14:53:01
Clark
But I mean, for me it was like, yeah, I, you know, my father was kind of an early adopter of electronics. He actually worked for electronics companies several different at some point, Yeah, consumer electronics. And so we always had like VCRs and, you know.
00:14:53:08 - 00:14:56:03
Cullen
Like the old JVC camcorders.
00:14:56:06 - 00:15:21:12
Clark
Yeah, we had that. Yeah. My dad actually worked for JVC when I was a kid, so we got to have all that kind of stuff pretty early on. But and my dad had it as part of this, his job selling consumer electronics. I think he actually like went to the very, very early, you know, before chains mom and pop video stores to like sell them equipment as part of his job like working for consumer electronics.
00:15:21:12 - 00:15:43:01
Clark
And so he knew like he had good relationships with like all of these local tape rental places and stuff. And when they were like fairly rare, kind of cutting edge, you know, it's not widely accepted or not widely practiced, kind of like it ended up, you know, being with Blockbuster and Hollywood video and all these other different companies until, of course, they went away and now they're gone.
00:15:43:01 - 00:16:06:16
Clark
And now we have Netflix. We've gone through like several cycles of technology now since then. But but so and I've already told you about how I kind of found Mad Max, and that was that my parents had these viewing parties when I was a kid and they would purposely get these grindhouse, you know, exploitation genre flicks at which of course Mad Max absolutely is one of.
00:16:06:16 - 00:16:25:11
Clark
And so I caught glimpses of it when I was extremely young, and I was just blown away and mesmerized by it. And that was the funny thing too. I think most people probably know about this by now, but at that time it was dubbed and all of the actors dubbed so, which increasingly.
00:16:25:20 - 00:16:26:03
Cullen
Mel.
00:16:26:03 - 00:16:59:08
Clark
Gibson, everybody, everybody. Mel Gibson was dubbed, everyone was dubbed. And because it wasn't just that the American distributor thought the accents would be a problem, but there's actually, like a lot of Australian specific slang in the U.S.. Well, yeah. And so all of that personality was removed, but the visuals were still so powerful to my little mind. It's like you were saying, you know, it's like when you're so impressionable and when you know that these scenes can be so just vivid and impactful and it leaves you thinking about them, you know, for for a long time after you've watched it.
00:16:59:08 - 00:17:18:03
Clark
But yeah, so, so I was was blown away by that. And so and, you know, this is with my father's help. I mean, you know, it was like I'm sure he knew that the Road Warrior and Mad Max were kind of, you know, we're in the same universe and that one way or was a sequel. So he would just rent them for me.
00:17:18:18 - 00:17:30:23
Clark
And because I loved it, you know, first with so much So as a kid, I always preferred road Warrior as a kid because it's it's just so much more a visceral movie. It's, you know.
00:17:30:23 - 00:17:37:21
Cullen
It's definitely like if you haven't seen them, I would say Road Warrior definitely shares the most with with Fury Road.
00:17:37:22 - 00:17:44:21
Clark
It's just it's just a distilled, right? Yeah. It's like it's just a very, very precise distill.
00:17:44:21 - 00:17:47:19
Cullen
Brutal to the like the, you know the tied guys on the.
00:17:48:00 - 00:17:48:08
Clark
Action.
00:17:48:10 - 00:17:48:19
Cullen
Car.
00:17:49:02 - 00:18:19:14
Clark
Yeah and there's more of a there's more of a world because they had the budget so there's you know mad Max and I very much loved that film too but it's you know they, they didn't have any money on it. So there's no none of the world building that that really stood out to me as a kid in and Road Warrior and Mad Max two I mean just the costumes and the cars and and of course it wasn't dubbed so I had the language, you know, in the actual actors performances there as a kid, as opposed to this watered down version.
00:18:19:23 - 00:18:44:11
Clark
I don't think I saw Mad Max with the actual real diet, real Australian dialog until it was released on DVD. It took a long time for that to get and they probably had a laserdisc. You know, edition. So yeah, yeah. But I never had a laser, this player. So so it was probably wasn't until like 2000 plus that I was actually able to see Mad Max as it was actually made as it was intended to be seen.
00:18:45:10 - 00:19:07:12
Clark
And then like I said, and then I saw Thunderdome at a theater my parents took me because of course they knew that I love these films. And I mean I mean, it was like every week we would go to the video store and my dad would rent Mad Max and Road Warrior just back to back to back. I mean, I could still remember that cover, especially at the Warner Brothers Mad Max VHS tape just had a huge impact on me.
00:19:07:12 - 00:19:30:07
Clark
So for me, I mean, that was like I was so much more into that than I was Star Wars or, you know, any of these other films that were so such huge, big franchises, big franchises, even Indiana Jones, which I loved. But yeah, I think it was probably I could say that The Road Warrior was the most singularly impactful film of my entire childhood.
00:19:30:07 - 00:19:45:13
Clark
It was a huge part of, you know, inspiring me, motivating me to to, to get into the world of film. Just it just it was just the right thing at the right time for my little young brain.
00:19:45:13 - 00:19:47:11
Cullen
So interesting.
00:19:47:11 - 00:19:58:08
Clark
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It really was. And it's, it's something that it has stayed with me to this day. I, my love, is not diminished for all the times that I've seen the film.
00:19:59:03 - 00:20:07:18
Cullen
So, yeah I'm curious to know. Yeah. To so because I'm assuming that even when you had the original Mad Max that was the dubbed version, it was probably Pan and Scan, it was.
00:20:07:18 - 00:20:10:22
Clark
Probably Canon scanned. So. So what's it look like? What was your.
00:20:10:22 - 00:20:18:07
Cullen
Initial like when you got to see it in its full form? What was your reaction like? Did it feel like you're watching a new movie or.
00:20:18:07 - 00:20:27:08
Clark
Oh, I did it. Did I actually have a pretty vivid memory of of the feeling that the number one biggest thing that I felt was what you were proud.
00:20:27:09 - 00:20:32:05
Cullen
So that means you were probably my age when you first watched it, that you were delivering the fintech version.
00:20:32:05 - 00:20:56:18
Clark
They all said, Yeah, we'll call it the authentic version. What I was totally blown away by was how good the performances were because that was completely lost in the dubbed version. So I was like, Holy crap, this is actually good acting. This is actually like these performers are actually like this because, you know, at this time I'm much older, so I kind of, you know, I have the language to kind of analyze these things where, of course I did when I was eight.
00:20:57:05 - 00:21:00:14
Clark
But that was the biggest difference because the dub version is so bad.
00:21:01:04 - 00:21:06:22
Cullen
Well, it's funny that they would like to me because Mel Gibson, of course, was born and lived in the States and Sally was nine, I think.
00:21:06:22 - 00:21:08:10
Clark
But he did have an Australian accent.
00:21:08:10 - 00:21:12:09
Cullen
Yeah, Yeah. And but even then, like, I find that his accent is much more.
00:21:12:10 - 00:21:13:23
Clark
Mild, very mild, mild.
00:21:13:23 - 00:21:20:18
Cullen
And sort of almost more of a like a I would describe as a global accent where it's just sort of sound like you're speaking English, doesn't really have you got tinges of certain.
00:21:20:19 - 00:21:23:05
Clark
Especially later, especially in the later films for.
00:21:23:05 - 00:21:23:16
Cullen
Yeah because.
00:21:23:16 - 00:21:29:00
Clark
Of course he he rounded his accent out for his work as an actor. But yeah.
00:21:29:00 - 00:22:02:00
Cullen
But no, I mean I again, I think it's so like again just to go through just real quick, not not like plot by plot, but but I just think that it's interesting. How so? Like the first one to me is, is very, very grounded. Yeah. It's like more of like a Warriors type thing where it's like all these gangs have gone crazy, but there's none of the like, you know, the implied kind of like cannibalism or like cults or like, well, you know, nomadic people living out there, sort of more of just like, it's like, it's lawlessness and that and.
00:22:02:00 - 00:22:02:06
Clark
That's.
00:22:02:19 - 00:22:03:21
Cullen
Kind of the the only.
00:22:03:21 - 00:22:14:21
Clark
And they actually tagged on tacked on that, you know, a few years from now. And then they tacked on that title because like they didn't have the money to film in any actual locations.
00:22:14:23 - 00:22:15:07
Cullen
Yeah.
00:22:15:15 - 00:22:23:16
Clark
Very. You know, so is the outback. So it's like, well, how are we going to, like, make this fit? You know, it's like the police station is this rundown, you know, place.
00:22:23:16 - 00:22:27:18
Cullen
And hospital that's like clearly only only cops are afforded health care.
00:22:27:20 - 00:22:38:15
Clark
It's yeah, yeah. It's like, well, how are we going to how are we going to do this? Oh, yeah, let's say that it was it's like a little bit in the future. And, you know, we're on the brink of lawlessness or, you know, so that's. Yeah.
00:22:38:15 - 00:22:53:02
Cullen
And it's, it's, it's funny too and it's so you get to that. But again, it's it really does you know I don't know if you have, but I've been to Australia. It just looks like not yet like it's not, it's not you know, you don't get that desert, that nuclear wasteland that sort of comes up in the later ones.
00:22:53:09 - 00:23:04:02
Cullen
You know, it's just it just sort of like is, is the decay of society and the lawlessness and stuff. So it's very it's much more grounded, much more, you know, again, there still is like a law enforcement because.
00:23:04:02 - 00:23:04:09
Clark
Mad.
00:23:04:17 - 00:23:06:14
Cullen
Max is, of course, a police.
00:23:06:14 - 00:23:09:15
Clark
There's still civilization, there's restaurants. Yeah.
00:23:09:15 - 00:23:37:08
Cullen
They say that it's like outside of you know, like they they kind of imply that like the big cities are still relatively civilized and that it's more the interior of Australia, like the outback that's kind of gone nuts. Yeah. Which is a lot of fun. I mean, even that is just kind of a fun world bit like even though it's not as, as, as you say, like built up in terms of law as the later to it is sort of a fun like midway between like oh this is kind of like a little late.
00:23:37:12 - 00:23:52:20
Cullen
Yeah, yeah. It feels much closer to our reality. Like it feels like again when they say, you know, if it feels like it could be like seven years out from now, whereas the next two feel like it's like, well, you know, they talk about the old world in terms of like as though it's legend and though like, you know.
00:23:52:23 - 00:24:22:09
Clark
Well, thematically it works perfect, right? Yeah, thematically it's perfect because this is, you know, the first film is where where Max goes mad, the first film, you know, so the landscape and this is one of the things that I find so beautiful about the film, it's something that has really inspired me. It was these films were a big inspiration for me, for studying Joseph Campbell and, you know, The Hero Journey, and I feel like these films very much fall in line with that.
00:24:22:09 - 00:24:26:11
Clark
I think most people were probably turned on to that by Star Wars of my generation.
00:24:26:14 - 00:24:27:06
Cullen
Yes. Yeah.
00:24:27:06 - 00:24:50:11
Clark
Where where Lucas specifically stated that that was an inspiration for his arcs. But but for me, it was this film. And I think, you know, the landscape is such a beautiful representation, symbolic representation of Max right there. One in the same. But yeah, here we have Max. He's got a wife, he has a child. Civilization is still there.
00:24:50:13 - 00:25:14:00
Clark
We're on the brink. But but there is, you know, we're not there yet. And when Max loses his wife, when Max loses his child, then we have that shift where Max, he goes mad, literally and figuratively in the wasteland. And so for Mad Max two to start where this has really progressed now, it makes total sense.
00:25:14:00 - 00:25:36:06
Cullen
And oh, no, yeah, it actually works. Really, It works actually one of the because because it almost implies in the second one that it's like he's now going further into the outback and he's like going further in the wasteland. And so then because we get the whole idea again that the people that are leaving, they're trying to get to like to the coast where there's this whispers that, you know, civilization still exists and right.
00:25:36:08 - 00:25:42:10
Clark
So the second one is like, right, we have this this really cool introduction with stock footage and actually even some footage.
00:25:42:14 - 00:25:43:06
Cullen
From the first.
00:25:43:06 - 00:26:05:04
Clark
One from the first film where they actually fleshed this out much more, where, you know, the world ran out of oil. And of course, this caused wars fighting, you know, because especially at that time. Right. That was a that was a a real concern. And of course, it still is. It's kind of changed a little bit. Now. We're we're worried more about global warming and clean water.
00:26:05:08 - 00:26:05:12
Cullen
And.
00:26:05:12 - 00:26:11:11
Clark
Stuff like that than we are necessarily about petroleum running out or nuclear.
00:26:11:17 - 00:26:12:18
Cullen
Devastation and stuff.
00:26:12:18 - 00:26:31:18
Clark
Yeah, right. But that was a big you know, that was a big fear, especially coming off of the, you know, the the oil crisis in the seventies. So there was like very much, you know, this real fear. And it's my understanding that that was kind of supposed to be a little bit more of Mad Max. But again, budgetary and no budget.
00:26:31:18 - 00:26:36:15
Clark
Yeah. And we do actually see that have that scene where the gang steals gas from a tanker.
00:26:36:18 - 00:26:37:04
Cullen
Yes.
00:26:37:14 - 00:26:38:20
Clark
Really? Kind of. You're planting.
00:26:38:20 - 00:26:39:20
Cullen
Those ideas for.
00:26:39:22 - 00:26:54:18
Clark
Planting these ideas. Yeah. And it was and it just worked out great. You know, this kind of these budgetary constraints. Kind of kind of I think they really played into the strengths of that and left this really open, you know, open canvas for exploration into the other films.
00:26:54:18 - 00:27:25:15
Cullen
Which is also because I what I find too, is that the third like Thunderdome really reminds me of Army of Darkness, which is the third Evil Dead movie where it's kind of, again, comedy. It fits it much more like more. Again, it's PG 13. So you like again, one of the things that I always compare it to or kind of like compare them with is that in, you know, in Mad Max two, you've got like those captured prisoners that are tied to the front of the car and it's like very brutal.
00:27:25:15 - 00:27:53:06
Cullen
And then they at one point slam into the back of the the trailer and it's like you can see the blood squirting and, you know, Autumn's very, very brutal like and much more similar to like what goes on in Fury Road, whereas is Thunderdome is much more again of sort of more of like a fantasy, like it's like these like nomadic civilizations that live out on the desert and like Max is sort of like implied to almost be like this mystical figure of legend and, and so you get into this much more fantasy.
00:27:53:06 - 00:27:53:19
Cullen
Kind of.
00:27:54:06 - 00:28:10:22
Clark
More fantasy. Yeah, there's more worldbuilding. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we're kind of jumping around a lot over here, but yeah, it's, you know, whereas I feel like, you know, wrote Mad Max almost even. It's funny, looking back now almost has, you know, it's like there's there's, it's almost like a drama in a lot of plays. Yes.
00:28:10:22 - 00:28:28:17
Clark
You know, it's like you've got this whole section of Max with his wife and his child and you're going on vacation. And I mean, there's you know, it's it's it's you've got this friendship with Goose and him and all these kind of things. And then Road Warrior is very much just I almost feel like that's just like it's like a straight shot.
00:28:28:17 - 00:28:30:10
Clark
I mean, it's just like, you know.
00:28:30:11 - 00:28:30:23
Cullen
Doesn't waste.
00:28:30:23 - 00:28:32:15
Clark
Any time. It doesn't waste any time.
00:28:32:15 - 00:28:42:00
Cullen
And not that that I mean, not that I didn't find in the first one that it was like it felt like it was a hard to get through. It was actually very enjoyable. But no, I don't like. Exactly. They cut all the fat.
00:28:42:00 - 00:28:55:06
Clark
In the not yet. I'm not talking about boring or not boring. I just mean like, like story structure, wise Road warrior. It's just it's just it's like a highway that's just going straight. There are no detours, there's no offer. It's just like, boom.
00:28:56:00 - 00:29:14:08
Cullen
Which is I mean, again, it would be like to me, I almost find if someone were to watch them, it would almost feel more appropriate to go mad Max One, two, and then Fury Road and then Thunderdome. Like I find that Thunderdome feels like it's way beyond in that. Like, Max is older. He's, you know, he's got the gray hair and stuff.
00:29:14:08 - 00:29:24:23
Cullen
Whereas Fury Road to me, I don't know what the actual chronology in terms of the world is, but Fury Road feels to me much more like a direct sequel to Road Warrior than it does to Thunderdome.
00:29:25:14 - 00:29:48:19
Clark
In many ways. I absolutely agree. You know, Fury Road is is built very similar to Road Warrior. And so the two very I mean right they've like they follow this very similar structure they've got the long drawn out chase scenes. So yeah they feel very similar. But yeah, I mean that Thunderdome was so inventive and.
00:29:48:20 - 00:29:49:12
Cullen
Then I left on it.
00:29:49:13 - 00:29:54:22
Clark
And, you know, but, but starting even with Road Warrior, just you can't give enough credit to the costume and production.
00:29:54:22 - 00:29:55:20
Cullen
Design. Oh, God.
00:29:56:00 - 00:30:19:03
Clark
Who built these cars? The people who built these costumes. I mean, it's especially with two, it's like, that's all you have to build the world because you're you know, that the outback basically is this open canvas. It can be anything. It can be anything. And when they the costumes were so were were built with such specificity and such detail.
00:30:19:03 - 00:30:33:10
Clark
And so were those cars. And they they tell the story of the world, which is just fantastic. And Thunderdome takes that to, you know, and even greater level. Yeah. With the border town that you know the construction of border town and and.
00:30:33:11 - 00:30:36:02
Cullen
What you get you get the legal system, you got the.
00:30:36:10 - 00:30:47:13
Clark
Thunderdome and the and break a deal. Spin the wheel, two men in one man leave. And so these are so inventive and so captivating that so many of these things found their way into our common lexicon.
00:30:47:13 - 00:30:57:06
Cullen
And yeah, and even just the idea to have like the, the, like the political relationship between, like who controls the energy really controls the, you know, the city and stuff.
00:30:57:06 - 00:31:14:15
Clark
Master Blaster I mean, these p I have run into people who were not even aware that this language came from this film and they use this language like I've had people like, you know, two men enter, one man, me, Eve, and I'm like, Do you know where that comes from? They're like, I don't know. I've just heard this.
00:31:14:15 - 00:31:41:08
Clark
And I think, Oh my gosh, it's Mad Max Thunder, you know, or people. I mean, whether it's like a Tupac video, California Love, which is like they completely stole the Thunder Dome idea. It's it was so interesting to me to see so much of this enter like pop culture. But you're right. You know, people there were a lot of people who felt like that this film Disney ized Mad Max.
00:31:41:08 - 00:31:57:18
Cullen
Yeah. Which I honestly I but I didn't one of the things that I didn't find that for was because I found if anything, what felt more Disney to me was the feral child and too I find that that yeah I find that that like just like a kid who's like very good at essentially.
00:31:57:18 - 00:31:58:09
Clark
Throwing his butt.
00:31:58:09 - 00:32:03:19
Cullen
Which is not you know not of course very Disney for a kid to kill people. But I just mean that like that to me is really.
00:32:03:19 - 00:32:05:01
Clark
That's interesting So.
00:32:05:06 - 00:32:19:05
Cullen
It's my it's not that I find it it doesn't take away from the movie for me but it's just I'm I like I almost feel like if you if the feral child wasn't into that it to me wouldn't really have much of an impact. I don't really so that was that character but I.
00:32:19:05 - 00:32:42:10
Clark
Would disagree I would say and an email if your email if you're listening, I think your performance as a kid there was awesome. But yeah, but I disagree. I think that the feral kid is a really important part of that film and that it's it's there's one place where Mad Max has a connection to humanity and that's it and that's it.
00:32:42:20 - 00:32:53:06
Clark
And I mean, we can go there's been reams written about, you know, Max, as a as an anti-hero, as a reluctant hero. I think these films are some of the best.
00:32:53:06 - 00:32:54:22
Cullen
He's very much the of.
00:32:54:22 - 00:32:55:09
Clark
That.
00:32:55:16 - 00:33:01:07
Cullen
Type of like the passing through, like kind of almost like the Clint Eastwood man with no name. You know, these are.
00:33:01:07 - 00:33:25:04
Clark
Very much Westerns in many senses. Absolutely. That's another way that you can kind of approach looking at these films. They are like Australian Westerns. Absolutely. But I feel like that character, the Feral Kid, is actually very important. And I think it's it's because Max is he has I mean, it's something like 16 lines of dialog. Yes. Miles, twice in that film.
00:33:25:07 - 00:33:54:13
Clark
Yeah. He has no relationship or connection to anyone. You know, he's, he's ruthless to the gyro captain. Even after he helps him, he's, you know, he only helps people because he only when his needs intersect with theirs. I mean, he, you know, and I think this is great. And I'm like, so I think it's wonderful that they stuck with this because, you know, of course, there's always such a push to make a likable character and, you know, you have to redeem them in the end and all this kind of stuff.
00:33:54:13 - 00:34:22:01
Clark
And so it's nice to see them taking risks with this. But I feel like without that, without the feral kid character, I think we wouldn't get any kind of hint or window into Mad Max's humanity. And I think that's important. So I but it's interesting, I've I've not thought about that. That was kind of maybe the seed the seed for really going hog wild.
00:34:22:01 - 00:34:44:10
Clark
No pun intended thunderdome of all of the methane factory but but really going hog wild with that and having a whole group of kids I mean, I feel like, you know, it's almost like you could I feel like the kids in Thunderdome are like the E walks of Return of the Jedi. It's like, yes, people either like, love them or you hate them, you know?
00:34:45:08 - 00:34:56:16
Cullen
Yeah, I didn't I didn't mind. The actually what was was weird was that I and so yeah I thought that the kids weren't a problem in three at all. Yeah. I thought it was a really interesting kind of.
00:34:56:16 - 00:34:57:15
Clark
It's a huge shift.
00:34:57:18 - 00:34:58:15
Cullen
It's very yeah.
00:34:58:15 - 00:35:00:01
Clark
It's a big risk. It's a I mean.
00:35:00:01 - 00:35:08:12
Cullen
Again, it becomes more like I think that it's just I can see the criticisms with the movie of people who are like, Oh, it's not like very violent. It's not that.
00:35:08:12 - 00:35:09:16
Clark
Intensity. Well, and this is.
00:35:09:16 - 00:35:13:17
Cullen
Fair, but I just didn't I didn't really it didn't bother me. I don't think it was. Yeah.
00:35:13:17 - 00:35:27:12
Clark
There's a and I think one of the there's tonal it's not just the violence because there's some good violence in it although Yeah. Especially by today's day and age, you know standards it's not gore you know. No at all. I but there's, you know, there's some great fight scenes.
00:35:28:04 - 00:35:30:03
Cullen
That that Thunderdome fight is a lot of fun.
00:35:30:03 - 00:35:35:06
Clark
The Thunderdome fight is very inventive Master Blaster. That whole idea's very inventive.
00:35:36:02 - 00:35:46:04
Cullen
Which is funny, too, because because I hadn't seen this whole movie and it's been so long since I've even seen pieces of it. Yeah, I was expecting of course, you're expecting Master Blaster to be kind of the key villain for the movie.
00:35:46:05 - 00:35:46:15
Clark
No, that's.
00:35:46:15 - 00:35:49:01
Cullen
Over. But it's over in like. Yeah, yeah.
00:35:49:04 - 00:35:51:04
Clark
20 minutes and that's dirty.
00:35:51:04 - 00:35:52:09
Cullen
But yeah, it's really.
00:35:52:09 - 00:36:20:03
Clark
Yeah, it's I mean, I think Tina Turner is fantastic in this film. Yeah, she's a lot of fun. Tina Turner, Just be good villains. Is you brought that up? You know, it's my understanding that Miller actually wrote the script with Tina Turner in mind. Oh, really? In this role? Yep. So it wasn't some kind of, like, you know, stunt casting like after the fact or something that, you know, I've read that that Miller said that he wanted a, you know, a woman, a strong woman who had been through a lot in her life.
00:36:20:03 - 00:36:44:22
Clark
And of course, if you're familiar at all with Tina Turner's life, you know that she has been to quite a lot. And, yes, persevered and survived to be obviously very, very successful. And so he he knew this about her and he was like, this is I mean, that's who this character is. That's who this is. So I thought that was fantastic casting, you know, she really never did anything else.
00:36:45:21 - 00:36:46:09
Clark
I don't think.
00:36:46:09 - 00:36:48:12
Cullen
Yeah, she was in the last action hero.
00:36:48:12 - 00:36:49:12
Clark
As a category.
00:36:49:14 - 00:36:53:06
Cullen
Just a cameo. Yeah, but she but in terms of like actual roles now that's it.
00:36:53:06 - 00:36:56:01
Clark
And so yeah, she was fantastic. I thought she was perfect.
00:36:56:08 - 00:37:03:03
Cullen
A great no. Yes, she really were. And again, it reminds me like that's where it really reminds me a lot of the kind of Willow Yeah, So I haven't.
00:37:03:03 - 00:37:03:14
Clark
Seen that in.
00:37:03:17 - 00:37:05:16
Cullen
Like, it's, like, it's very.
00:37:05:19 - 00:37:10:18
Clark
I remember really liking it. Not that we would shift gears and go into Willow right now, but but I know.
00:37:10:19 - 00:37:32:11
Cullen
It feels very like, again, her character feels much more like a like and what I liked about Thunderdome a lot was that it feels like rather than so like one and two very much like one is very much the prelude to like total chaos. Now two is the total chaos, and three very much has the feeling of like the the remnants of society and civilization building back, right?
00:37:32:12 - 00:37:37:07
Cullen
You get this idea of like, okay, so this is what this is what the future is now.
00:37:37:07 - 00:38:01:00
Clark
And that's the that's the hero journey. So and that's what I'm saying is that, you know, you're you're in the community, you're at home, you're safe. Then you go out into the wasteland and then you come back to the community and you have changed and and you will change the community. So there's obviously that is like ridiculously summarized and distilled, too.
00:38:01:00 - 00:38:18:15
Clark
But but that's where you kind of get the structure. So I think it works really well as a trilogy, but that yeah, I mean, I think, you know, tonally I was just going to say it's, it's that there is so much a different approach to humor in this. Yeah. And not that there wasn't any humor in Road Warrior or Mad Max.
00:38:18:15 - 00:38:42:20
Clark
There definitely are and especially in Road where I mean, there's some, you know, some really great stuff, you know, but there's it's goofy stuff. I mean, you've got and I think that's, you know, I'm a little torn. I'm a little torn. And I know this was definitely an issue for a lot of people, but it's like everything from the frying pan, you know, in that final chase scene where the yeah, the witchdoctor is like whacking people in the face and then.
00:38:43:00 - 00:38:45:21
Cullen
The guy keeps coming back to consciousness and then gets whacked again.
00:38:45:22 - 00:39:03:06
Clark
And then, yeah, he's using it as a steering wheel and Yeah, yeah, I know a little bit of that fell over, you know, and you've got the kids like, you know, 5740, like swinging back and forth, you know, and it's like, yeah, it kind of reminds me of Goonies, you know.
00:39:03:06 - 00:39:07:17
Cullen
Oh, no, exactly. That's a good comparison too. Or Goonies or like.
00:39:09:03 - 00:39:11:04
Clark
I mean, almost it walks Goonies.
00:39:11:09 - 00:39:15:01
Cullen
Like, I don't know if you ever saw The E Walk Adventures, which were like the spin off.
00:39:15:01 - 00:39:15:15
Clark
Never saw.
00:39:15:16 - 00:39:30:18
Cullen
Kids. So I they were made for TV movies that I used to love as a kid. They're called Star Wars The Walk Adventures. They were two of them. And it almost feels very much like that, where it's like it's this slapstick. It's like this. Yeah, It's like when the kids start swinging and, you know, Yeah.
00:39:31:11 - 00:39:36:06
Clark
Yeah. There's not really there's no real risk. It's like, you know, these kids are going to die. You know.
00:39:36:18 - 00:39:40:10
Cullen
There's, I think the only one of the kids really games sand right.
00:39:40:19 - 00:39:42:03
Clark
There is they do they sand.
00:39:42:03 - 00:39:42:15
Cullen
Trap Yeah.
00:39:42:16 - 00:39:48:16
Clark
They they actually right and of course you've got in the eighties right it was like every what everybody was terrified of quicksand.
00:39:48:22 - 00:39:49:21
Cullen
Yes. I think.
00:39:50:08 - 00:40:01:17
Clark
Everybody died. I mean it was I guess technically quicksand because it wasn't like in a swamp, it wasn't wet. But yeah, the sand, like, literally swallows up one of the kids so they can't save them. So but, you know, which.
00:40:01:17 - 00:40:24:17
Cullen
Is also very similar to the scene in Lawrence of Arabia, which again, I was kind of remarking that that's the same composer of the movie soundtrack. And not only that, but it's very again, like all those long scenes of someone like with no water trampling through the desert, trying to get there very, very much feels like it's kind of an homage, if anything, to to some of the Lawrence of Arabia scene.
00:40:24:18 - 00:40:36:02
Clark
Reminds me too of like good and the bad and the ugly. I mean, yeah, it's it's a very commonly used symbol, right? And whether it's in T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland or it's in this book, I mean, this is I.
00:40:36:02 - 00:40:36:22
Cullen
Always think of.
00:40:37:06 - 00:40:38:00
Clark
A landscape.
00:40:38:00 - 00:40:38:18
Cullen
Baseball's.
00:40:39:12 - 00:40:39:20
Clark
Space.
00:40:40:05 - 00:40:50:19
Cullen
You think when they know, when they're in the when they're in the desert and then it's like it you know, of course, it dissolves to the sun in the sky and you hear John Candy go nice dissolve every time there's a dissolve.
00:40:50:19 - 00:41:10:13
Clark
And I think I haven't seen that in so long. And I. I don't have a recollection of it. That's funny. I mean it. Well, it is, you know, So let's talk about that real quick, because we you've mentioned the composer for the films. So, you know, the first two films have Brian may. Brian May, which is not.
00:41:10:17 - 00:41:11:11
Cullen
The guy.
00:41:11:11 - 00:41:32:09
Clark
Not Queen, but Brian May did the score for those first two films. And you know, especially as a child, you don't like consciously notice these things. I mean, they have a huge impact on you, but you're not like analyzing them or. Yeah, just thinking of them. But I was I was kind of surprised at the like that the the.
00:41:32:16 - 00:41:33:22
Cullen
Traditional feeling of.
00:41:33:22 - 00:41:41:08
Clark
Traditional kind of symphonic nature of these scores, and especially with the first film like really bombastic and yeah.
00:41:41:16 - 00:41:42:14
Cullen
Lots of horns.
00:41:42:14 - 00:41:43:12
Clark
And Yeah.
00:41:43:13 - 00:41:44:16
Cullen
Brass and Yeah.
00:41:44:19 - 00:41:54:20
Clark
Yeah. But I, but I very much like them and you know you mentioned dissolves kind of that especially in a good way or two with kind of these the the swipes that they had.
00:41:54:20 - 00:41:57:23
Cullen
There's lots of like transitions in transitions.
00:41:57:23 - 00:42:01:17
Clark
I totally got like a little bit of a star Wars vibe here and there.
00:42:01:17 - 00:42:03:09
Cullen
Yeah, I thought the exact same thing with the.
00:42:03:09 - 00:42:09:07
Clark
Score as well. You know, I was like, it's kind of it's big like a Williams score, you know, from that. And it was.
00:42:09:10 - 00:42:25:06
Cullen
Which is so funny because I think again, what I had mentioned before, we just like in our little conversation prior to this was just kind of that I going into this again, because it's been so long that you almost expect like I obviously didn't expect it to be the Junky XL score from Fury Road.
00:42:25:09 - 00:42:25:18
Clark
Right?
00:42:25:18 - 00:42:26:06
Cullen
But I.
00:42:26:08 - 00:42:26:22
Clark
Ran into.
00:42:26:22 - 00:42:45:07
Cullen
It expecting that it was going to be, you know, just from or just I guess from like that's just what you assume because you've just associated that with Mad Max is that it's going to be sort of like tribal or like weird instruments, but really very traditional film score barium. And even especially during the romance bits, it's like there's like the nice strings and yeah.
00:42:45:07 - 00:42:46:01
Clark
It's like.
00:42:46:10 - 00:43:03:22
Cullen
It feels, yeah, it but again, it was one of those things that I was like really pleasantly surprised with the first one. Yeah, right. And you know, I never, not, I never didn't like it, but I always just remember being like, Oh yeah, the first one is good, but this like you know, Road Warriors where it's at. And then this time I was like, I really, really love this first one.
00:43:03:22 - 00:43:24:16
Cullen
Like, it's so great. And just again, that opening scene when it's like it keeps cutting back to Max, just sitting on the side of the road, silently waiting for it, and just how interesting it is. I think it really is interesting to watch, you know, Road Warrior Thunderdome, Fury Road and then kind of go back to the first one and go, oh, yeah, like this started with Max just being a police officer.
00:43:24:16 - 00:43:25:17
Cullen
Yeah, he was, you know.
00:43:26:00 - 00:43:27:23
Clark
Well, not just the police officer, though.
00:43:27:23 - 00:43:28:05
Cullen
Yes.
00:43:28:05 - 00:43:30:03
Clark
The highway clearly the best.
00:43:30:13 - 00:43:32:02
Cullen
And you mentioned.
00:43:32:02 - 00:43:55:17
Clark
It. You've mentioned it in passing. But I do you know, it's my opinion that in the first film and it runs probably a good 10 minutes or so, I don't remember exactly, but it's a good chunk of time that that entire first scene, which is really perfectly done all to introduce Max. And it is one of the best character introductions you're ever going to see on film.
00:43:55:18 - 00:43:56:11
Cullen
It's so good.
00:43:56:16 - 00:44:22:20
Clark
It's absolutely fantastic and it I mean, it really is an example and I just I can't overstate this a pet peeve of mine, but it really it is a great example of film, the way it's supposed to be used, which is average sounds like, you know, really pretentious like, but I mean, you know, instead of having a writer tell us what a character is through exposition or dialog.
00:44:22:20 - 00:44:39:10
Clark
Yeah, we're we're actually George Miller shows us who Mad Max is through his actions and through, you know, through visual storytelling and, you know, and everybody out there go back and watch this again. If it's been a long time since you've seen it, because, I mean, even the.
00:44:39:10 - 00:45:00:09
Cullen
Gang members starts crying and stuff. Oh, we really they know it's so fantastic. And I love how the inciting is it again, like people always kind of praise the simplicity for of, you know, of Road Warrior in the storytelling. But the storytelling is so simple. In the first one to like the inciting incident is just the essentially the accidental death of the gang member.
00:45:00:09 - 00:45:10:00
Cullen
Like Max doesn't even really mean to kill the guy, right? It's more of just like, you know, the guy just loses control of his car. And then, of course, that's what incites the whole the entire plot.
00:45:10:00 - 00:45:10:14
Clark
Everything.
00:45:10:14 - 00:45:12:16
Cullen
Else coming after, after the cops.
00:45:12:16 - 00:45:19:04
Clark
It's extremely simple. It's a revenge film. I mean, that's where I'm like it's very much like a in American Western film.
00:45:19:08 - 00:45:22:05
Cullen
Sort of. Yeah. It reminds me of Once Upon a Time in the West.
00:45:22:05 - 00:45:22:19
Clark
When it's.
00:45:22:19 - 00:45:24:20
Cullen
Like, Yeah, that. That kind of whole revenge story. Yeah.
00:45:25:06 - 00:45:37:03
Clark
Which is super common and it's, you know, the trope of a man has his family taken away and that, you know, leaves him a shell of a man and he's out to and you.
00:45:37:03 - 00:45:46:17
Cullen
Really feel the emotion when, when his, when his wife and kid die. Oh, that, that shot of him running down the road. It's and you don't see them like you're just you're just stuck on on will you.
00:45:46:17 - 00:45:49:19
Clark
See you see the shoe in the ball on the highway and.
00:45:49:19 - 00:45:54:10
Cullen
The the the what is it. The pacifier. Right. I think falls over. Yeah.
00:45:54:10 - 00:45:57:00
Clark
I don't know if it's a pacifier or a ball or maybe.
00:45:57:02 - 00:45:57:22
Cullen
Whatever it is. Yeah.
00:45:57:22 - 00:46:17:03
Clark
But it's, it's so beautifully done. And instead of, you know, getting right up in Mel Gibson's face with the camera and like showing the tears fall down his face so many directors would have done in that situation. What do we do? George Miller stays way back and you've got this this beautiful, you know, the your eye is drawn right to him.
00:46:17:11 - 00:46:28:16
Clark
The road just paints the way right to him off in the background. And it kind of he's tiny, isolated, alone, this figure and it's just fantastic. So.
00:46:28:16 - 00:46:29:08
Cullen
Yeah, yeah.
00:46:29:15 - 00:46:40:01
Clark
Oh, good stuff, man. Good stuff. So, yeah, if you want to see a good character introduction, check that out. And you know, let's talk a little bit too, so. Oh, yeah, well, music, let's go back to that. So.
00:46:40:01 - 00:46:40:19
Cullen
So yes. Yeah.
00:46:40:19 - 00:46:50:21
Clark
So then the third film is it scored by entirely different person and you had mentioned that the that it was scored by Maurice.
00:46:51:02 - 00:46:57:12
Cullen
I don't know how his last name is pronounced but J R Jari, if it's Jarre or if it's Uri or whatever.
00:46:57:12 - 00:47:01:02
Clark
But I was going to have you do it because I would have mispronounced it. So let's see.
00:47:01:15 - 00:47:02:14
Cullen
I'm not now.
00:47:03:04 - 00:47:10:14
Clark
But you scored, as you indicated, of the of the many things that he scored. Lawrence of Arabia was one of the films that he did, of course.
00:47:10:14 - 00:47:13:04
Cullen
And oh it is Jarre is. Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:13:04 - 00:47:13:22
Clark
Okay perfect.
00:47:13:22 - 00:47:16:01
Cullen
And were you shocked? But yes he did Lawrence of Arabia.
00:47:16:17 - 00:47:22:18
Clark
And you felt like there were some I mean, it seems like you could clearly draw some correlations to those two films.
00:47:22:19 - 00:47:27:18
Cullen
Yeah, Yeah, totally In both in again in the content of just the desert and stuff like that.
00:47:27:18 - 00:47:28:12
Clark
But the landscape.
00:47:28:12 - 00:47:44:08
Cullen
In the soundtrack, you know, there's points when it does sort of feel in a very good way. It does have that kind of Lawrence of Arabia like that big. But you know, I think that the Lawrence of Arabia soundtrack defined what what the desert sounds like.
00:47:44:08 - 00:47:45:11
Clark
Desert sound? Yeah.
00:47:45:12 - 00:47:47:00
Cullen
Like it's like every single.
00:47:47:08 - 00:47:47:19
Clark
Iconic.
00:47:47:19 - 00:47:48:23
Cullen
Movie that has, like.
00:47:48:23 - 00:47:49:00
Clark
A.
00:47:49:09 - 00:47:57:10
Cullen
Desert sweeping dunes will use that kind of motif of like, yeah, that and that that like that. Like stripping. Yeah. Which I.
00:47:57:10 - 00:47:58:08
Clark
Love. I know.
00:47:58:09 - 00:48:00:23
Cullen
But it's even used here. Yeah. It's like a little bit.
00:48:01:08 - 00:48:13:19
Clark
I agree. I add. But I think all three films do a fantastic job. You do have some more interesting kind of instrumentation in the Thunder and in the Border town scenes there.
00:48:13:19 - 00:48:24:00
Cullen
So yeah, there's a little bit more of like a percussive, especially in the in the Thunderdome fight. And yeah, the when you go down to the Pig Factory thing.
00:48:24:07 - 00:48:46:09
Clark
Yes, the methane farm or the pig farm slash mess the methane factory. Absolutely. I mean, let's talk a little bit about performances, too, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and starting with the first film, I mean, and to go back, you know, that was you asked me, well, what was the biggest difference when you saw the, the first film as it was intended, as opposed to having seen it with the American dub.
00:48:46:09 - 00:49:10:14
Clark
And that was what so stood out to me, was that, you know, here we have this tiny budget film. It's a genre film, it's a B film, it's an Australian exploitation film. It has no right to be good. Yeah, right. The performances have no right to be good. I mean, how many films of this budget of this genre have movies that are even even like, watch it.
00:49:10:14 - 00:49:10:20
Clark
Right?
00:49:11:04 - 00:49:13:17
Cullen
And that's what's so surprising of all the like there's no.
00:49:14:00 - 00:49:14:08
Clark
And there.
00:49:14:13 - 00:49:18:03
Cullen
Is no performance in this in the in Mad Max one.
00:49:18:03 - 00:49:21:08
Clark
Speaks to George Sacred speaks to the direction when you have.
00:49:21:08 - 00:49:22:10
Cullen
The skills of his Yeah.
00:49:22:11 - 00:49:39:22
Clark
Yeah I mean Mel Gibson is is completely he's so young which like wow you know of course when I was a kid he looked like he was 40 to me, you know, when I was six or whatever. Of course, now I look at it and I'm like, he's just a child. He's like, I think he was 21 or something in the first film.
00:49:40:04 - 00:50:13:12
Clark
I mean, he's like, he's so young. But, you know, and Hugh Keays-Byrne just, I think, steals the show in every in every scene he's in, he's fantastic. But a lot of these actors are I think every every character in the film or every actor in the film builds an interesting, believable character. Yeah. But I enjoy seeing on screen and, you know, whether it's Goose, I think that was Steve Bisley, Johnny the Boy.
00:50:13:19 - 00:50:42:12
Clark
I mean, you've just got it's so much interesting character. And I almost wonder, it's like and maybe part of that is that, you know, when you're an American and you're young culturally, you know, these people seem a little more alien and that that works for the film. Yeah, but it's just there's so much personality and character and sometimes I'm almost I'm scared that are we going to, like, cast that out of our films where everybody has to be, you know, cool, cool and beautiful and no.
00:50:42:12 - 00:51:01:20
Cullen
And that's why I love, like, things like this. I love just just yeah, just like I like it when movies are kind of embraced, the weirder, sort of more character actor resides there, their having and kind of go like, go far with it, you know Yeah really bring bring it into the make it memorable like really go with it all of it.
00:51:01:20 - 00:51:21:08
Clark
I mean they're visually interesting characters. The performances are fantastic. Yeah. So I mean I just, I mean, especially like Hugh Keays-Byrne again, it's like that was the biggest thing. I didn't realize how wonderful his performance was until I see it. So it's actually him where it's actually him performing instead of, Yeah, somebody some American dude in an ADR booth.
00:51:21:12 - 00:51:40:18
Clark
No offense to whoever did that if you're listening out there, but I mean, but just extraordinary. And I mean, Mel Gibson's performance in it's it's understated but grounded you talked about how this film was grounded. I feel like his performance is very grounded. I feel like I mean, look, I mean.
00:51:40:19 - 00:51:55:04
Cullen
He gives up. He leaves, right? Like, that's what I love about, you know, just the idea that this character, you really get the feeling of when he goes from just guy that's like, I'm going to go live with my wife and kid, right to Mad Max. Like, Yeah, you feel that? And I think a lot of that is owed to even.
00:51:55:04 - 00:52:23:08
Clark
Without hype, without hyperbole, without exaggerate, without melodrama. Yeah. Which is, you know, the danger here, you can really get to that. But then we go into roadway and again it's, you know, these characters don't have much dialog. And it's one of the things that has inspired me as a filmmaker. And don't misunderstand and I love the written word and there are films and television shows especially that I've seen that are really dialog heavy that I'm very fond of.
00:52:23:08 - 00:52:36:04
Clark
But yeah, there is something to me that is so captivating about a film that is brave enough to fully embrace storytelling through moving pictures and the Road Warrior is just, I feel like, the epitome of that.
00:52:36:04 - 00:52:40:09
Cullen
It really goes back to the like the origins of cinema.
00:52:40:16 - 00:52:44:13
Clark
Yeah, You could make that a silent film. Yeah, there's no question.
00:52:44:13 - 00:52:57:01
Cullen
Roadway or could be. And I do recall a lot of people saying similar things. Again, kind of the similarities between the two were when, when Fury Road came out was that it was it like it very much was reliant on the visuals, reliant on the.
00:52:57:01 - 00:53:11:18
Clark
And physicality, you know, these characters, these actors being there. And just because you don't have dialog, I think maybe some people might, I don't know, think, well, the actor's job is less. I completely disagree I think it's more I know Yeah yeah to to to.
00:53:11:18 - 00:53:13:23
Cullen
To be expressive with your face and stuff. Yeah.
00:53:14:00 - 00:53:36:03
Clark
Well, and specificity, you know, to bring a specificity to it, you know I think is, is more challenging it to really be, to have the physicality and the specificity of physicality. I mean everybody in this, I mean, you love Bruce Spence as the gyro captain, of course, and Mel Gibson, I feel like even more comes into his own.
00:53:36:10 - 00:54:00:08
Clark
I mean, he's so iconic and like mythical in this film. He's does such a great job of doing that. But I mean, like Vernon Wells, of course, is I mean, the character he created with Wes is like I mean, that's kind of pop culture. That's kind of I mean, he he even, like, ended up, you know, doing a cameo in what was it like weird science with that character?
00:54:00:08 - 00:54:14:15
Clark
I mean, yes, it really transcended the film. Everybody was so good in that film. Even the small roles I feel like were we're just very well drawn, distinctly drawn with specificity.
00:54:15:00 - 00:54:31:02
Cullen
Yeah. Yeah. And I think I think, too, the Road Warrior is really the one that even just kind of transcended the this franchise. And really it's like when you think of something like Borderlands or like pretty much any inspired media that has kind of come.
00:54:31:02 - 00:54:31:08
Clark
Into it.
00:54:31:08 - 00:54:38:16
Cullen
Inspiring much is is it's like just those the Mohawk having you know almost like hockey gear wearing.
00:54:39:03 - 00:54:39:19
Clark
Well yeah that.
00:54:39:19 - 00:54:40:02
Cullen
Guys.
00:54:40:02 - 00:55:06:23
Clark
Yeah the production design and costumes of these three films had it would be hard to overstate the impact that it had on popular culture. It really, really, really had. And, you know, you could probably go back and I'm sure people have done this. You could go back and you could look at how many films had been or TV shows had been inspired or had ripped off or were homages to this this trio of films.
00:55:06:23 - 00:55:09:21
Clark
I'm sure it's in the thousands. Yeah.
00:55:09:21 - 00:55:13:05
Cullen
And I actually had a quote. So. Yeah, maybe this is just a clarification.
00:55:13:10 - 00:55:13:18
Clark
Yeah.
00:55:13:22 - 00:55:17:12
Cullen
Bruce Spence. Yeah, he playing the same character in two and three.
00:55:17:16 - 00:55:40:22
Clark
So you're asking a question that so many people have asked and it's like everybody has this question and I can't speak definitively, but it's my understanding that, okay, so it's one of these like really wonderful kind of beautiful things about art and cinema that, you know, everything is kind of a symbol in kind of, you know what I mean?
00:55:40:22 - 00:56:07:17
Clark
There's fluidity. It's kind of a dreamlike kind of logic. So I think the short answer is no, they're not the same character, but I mean, they kind of are related. They're, you know, it's like you bring into Thunderdome, like when you see Bruce Vince's face as the pilot in that you you bring with you your experience of him as a gyro captain and road warrior, right?
00:56:07:23 - 00:56:20:17
Clark
Yeah. You almost feel like there is some connection, but I think literally there isn't. They're not supposed to be the same character. But of course, when George Miller decides to cast the exact same actor in a very similar in a.
00:56:20:17 - 00:56:22:02
Cullen
Very sick pilot, you.
00:56:22:03 - 00:56:35:08
Clark
Know that there's like people are going to think that that's connected. And so I think yes. And no is the answer. I think that on a on like a dreamlike film logic, you know, kind of level, they are.
00:56:35:09 - 00:56:58:21
Cullen
They're like, well, I almost I almost feel like it's like because Thunderdome to me takes place so far after road like it it seems like it takes place in a way in the future that it almost seems to me like it's almost like Max. It's like we're in the head of Max correlating those two and that Max seeing this, that's another guy as a pilot is almost like and again, that's just my take on it.
00:56:58:21 - 00:57:05:18
Cullen
And then when I was watching last night, that was my assumption was that that it seemed because at the beginning, like you don't really know because there's almost an implication that like Max.
00:57:06:00 - 00:57:06:09
Clark
It was.
00:57:06:17 - 00:57:13:04
Cullen
Like their relationship has like broken down and that now the gyro captain is just kind of pissing max off and stealing and stuff.
00:57:13:09 - 00:57:14:06
Clark
And I love that.
00:57:14:06 - 00:57:19:00
Cullen
And I but you don't know exactly. So I'm just curious to know from you if, if, if like that.
00:57:19:00 - 00:57:40:00
Clark
My understanding is that that it is literally not. But clearly there is a strong connection. And I mean, you know, how do we end road warrior we in the Road Warrior to put our minds back there where Max has driven the tanker off the road, it's fallen over. Max realizes that it was filled with sand. Of course. Did he know that before?
00:57:40:16 - 00:57:58:06
Clark
We don't know. Maybe he knew when he did it and he knew he was a decoy. Maybe he didn't. Yeah, but. But he kind of chuckles at that. And who pulls up alongside him? It's the gyro captain. And they, like, share a smile. It's like the second only two times that that Max smiles in that film. Well, now open on the new film.
00:57:58:12 - 00:58:00:13
Clark
And what's the very first thing that happens.
00:58:01:08 - 00:58:03:10
Cullen
Is the people that just die.
00:58:03:19 - 00:58:08:21
Clark
Yeah. Yeah. He. He bombs Max off of his caravan and steals it.
00:58:09:05 - 00:58:09:12
Cullen
Yeah.
00:58:09:20 - 00:58:23:11
Clark
So it's there's definitely a strong connective tissue there and it's but I love those kind of things. I think that's fun too. I mean I'm a big fan of, of kind of playing with expectations and Yeah, yeah. Kind of.
00:58:23:11 - 00:58:25:04
Cullen
Leaving things is like leaving.
00:58:25:04 - 00:58:44:03
Clark
Things open and vague and I mean, you can really take this even further. I know that Fury Road is outside the scope of this discussion in this podcast here, but you know, there's a lot of that there too. Yeah, well, what's the time frame this has happened in? Like what's what? You know, it's these films can kind of be independent of each other, though.
00:58:44:03 - 00:58:49:20
Cullen
They're very much I see them much more as like, as a tableaus of. Yes. Like they're like vignettes.
00:58:50:03 - 00:58:50:16
Clark
Yes.
00:58:51:01 - 00:58:58:09
Cullen
They're, they're very serial in that way where it's like you don't really need to watch them in order. I mean, I would say, of course, the first one probably first, because that's the one that's the most.
00:58:58:09 - 00:59:00:12
Clark
But by no means mandatory at all.
00:59:00:13 - 00:59:03:21
Cullen
No. And apparently George Miller has said that are different.
00:59:03:21 - 00:59:10:12
Clark
But and that's what that was. My understanding is they're different characters. But I mean, come on. It's like when you cast the exact same person in.
00:59:10:21 - 00:59:12:02
Cullen
Almost an identical role.
00:59:12:02 - 00:59:15:15
Clark
And you into one movie and begin the next movie.
00:59:15:18 - 00:59:16:09
Cullen
With them.
00:59:16:09 - 00:59:18:02
Clark
With them, you know.
00:59:18:11 - 00:59:26:11
Cullen
And it could it in again. To me, it could also almost be playing up the idea of just like, you know, people can't remember cities, they can't remember planes. They don't remember all that stuff that.
00:59:26:23 - 00:59:27:03
Clark
Your.
00:59:27:03 - 00:59:31:06
Cullen
Memories are so bad. Yeah. That he just doesn't remember the gyro captain.
00:59:31:09 - 00:59:35:21
Clark
And I love playing with that. Yeah, I love playing with that. And but, but no.
00:59:36:02 - 00:59:55:06
Cullen
And I think that you were saying that was a really good point, too. It's just this idea that it's like, yeah, they are sort of serials of just this world. Like they're just like, you're coming into this world for, you know, because every single, you know, two and three especially, and very similarly, which is like people talking about like and that's the last time we ever saw like, yeah, who knows where he went kind of thing.
00:59:55:12 - 01:00:21:11
Clark
It's like, you know, and another way, one of the ways that I look at it, I feel like to me is that so, You know, Mad Men, these are stories that for the most part are being told by somebody else. If you look at the structure of two and three, these are there are stories that it's like this person had an experience with and Mad Max came into their life and they are telling you the story.
01:00:21:11 - 01:00:41:21
Clark
Right. Especially to two is very you know, it's like, you know, Mad Max drove the truck or, you know, the tanker and we were able to get away in the bus with all the gasoline. And I went on to be the leader of the northern tribe. That's the feral kid, by the way. Yeah, but but I kind of get a sense that, like, that's Max is this is a myth.
01:00:41:21 - 01:01:03:16
Clark
Max is a myth is like a mythical character. And these are and you know what happens to myths? We know what happens to stories. It's like that'd be like people telling stories about like, you know, who would be a mythical character, like in the American West, let's say, Buffalo Bill. I mean, there's like a million stories of this person and how much of that is true and how much exactly fiction.
01:01:03:17 - 01:01:28:12
Clark
And, you know, they're they're they're just these they're just they're stories that take place kind of revolve around this character, revolve around this this this wasteland universe. And it's not a literal it's not a literal thing. So I it's like much more fun to kind of have it that way, in my opinion. So be interesting to see what happens with it with the next upcoming Mad Max films.
01:01:28:12 - 01:01:34:01
Clark
I'm a little bit scared. I'm also extremely psyched and extremely excited.
01:01:34:06 - 01:01:36:05
Cullen
Considering that Miller is in charge of them.
01:01:36:15 - 01:01:45:16
Clark
Well, that's yeah, that would be. I'd be terrified, frankly, if he weren't. But the fact that George Miller is is directing and that there's two films, right? We'd kind of look to the studio.
01:01:45:16 - 01:01:56:13
Cullen
So which is in pre-production right now. And then there's the wasteland, which is and so as I as far as I believe, Furiosa is a prequel that's just going to be centered around Charlize Theron's character. Not much.
01:01:56:13 - 01:01:59:19
Clark
Will No longer be played by Charlize Theron, but the younger actors.
01:01:59:19 - 01:02:05:18
Cullen
Yeah, yeah. And then The Wasteland is like the next Max tale. Yeah. Him. Right.
01:02:06:05 - 01:02:27:00
Clark
So I'm excited. I'm a little bit scared because you always, you know, it's I consider all four of these films in this, in this series to be great films personally. And of course they have we've already discussed how they have personal emotional you know, like I'm very connected to these films. They're a huge part of my love for cinema and my desire to be a filmmaker.
01:02:27:00 - 01:02:56:04
Clark
So hopefully the will continue with the same quality and I'll be excited to see what Mr. Miller does with these next films. But yeah, I mean, I so I'm curious in the as we kind of wrap up here, I if you how would you kind of rank the trilogy for, for just yourself. Obviously very subjective. We're not trying to make a statement that that this is some kind of objective but just you know if you kind of like had to, how would you rate them on just your personal like.
01:02:56:04 - 01:03:15:20
Cullen
In terms of what I enjoyed the most, I would say one, two, three. Okay. One and two, very, very close. Three a little bit below. Just because it does lose like, you know, you're you don't have the car chases. You don't have as much of the like it's an it's a PG 13 so it's a little the same but but I did really I enjoyed, as I said, three a lot more than I expected to.
01:03:16:18 - 01:03:31:04
Cullen
And you know, I would say that in terms of this one, which is surprising because I was really expecting to to be my favorite one and then three. But no, I something about one this time, just like really, you know, got me on board and I was like, loving it the whole time.
01:03:31:06 - 01:03:32:00
Clark
That's awesome.
01:03:32:00 - 01:03:32:11
Cullen
Yeah. What?
01:03:32:17 - 01:03:45:10
Clark
So real quick too, I just would revisit. So since you had not seen three in its entirety, was there what was kind of the something that stood out that you were maybe surprised about or that really caught your attention?
01:03:45:10 - 01:03:47:13
Cullen
I think how far in the future it's set?
01:03:47:21 - 01:03:48:07
Clark
Okay.
01:03:48:07 - 01:04:07:22
Cullen
I think that was the one. Again, it's never really specified in the movie. Like what, the date or like how far it's been since the second. But no, I think I wasn't like I was really expecting again, Thunder. I honestly expected Thunderdome to be like a gladiatorial combat with cars like that. It was going to be like, like almost like a rally car thing because.
01:04:08:10 - 01:04:10:05
Clark
You know, like Construction Derby or something.
01:04:10:05 - 01:04:21:12
Cullen
Yeah, Yeah, exactly. So that's kind of what I expected going into it, because I don't think I'd ever seen the Thunderdome scene before. Yeah. So I was really expecting that. And I loved it though. I love the Thunderdome scene. It was a lot of fun. Like it's actually a very.
01:04:21:12 - 01:04:22:09
Clark
Solid fight to the.
01:04:22:09 - 01:04:36:03
Cullen
End to fight scene. Yeah, but. But no, I think that that was really what shocked me was how again, also how much it felt like fantasy more so than just straight like post-apocalypse sort of that like the other two. Yeah. There was a lot more of this fantastic.
01:04:36:03 - 01:04:36:12
Clark
Captain.
01:04:36:12 - 01:04:55:14
Cullen
Legendary mythos. Yeah. And stuff like that. Yeah. Which is interesting because I mean that it does kind of highlight the like evolution of like human thought of that you get to this back to this primitive kind of cave drawings type of society. Yeah. So yeah, I think that was the most shocking me that it was hot now. Yes.
01:04:55:14 - 01:04:57:13
Cullen
Yeah. And how, how different.
01:04:57:15 - 01:05:01:01
Clark
And they had the TV. I love how they have the, the, the stick.
01:05:01:15 - 01:05:02:10
Cullen
With the TV.
01:05:02:10 - 01:05:19:16
Clark
Yeah. And that's their TV. Yeah. Yeah. And the sonic and I mean that's super inventive stuff I think you know, super inventive stuff. Yeah. I, you know, it's, I hate to like, so funny. I mean, I'm the one that asked the question and here I am saying it's kind of goofy to rank them because I think they're all they're also wonderful.
01:05:19:16 - 01:05:43:00
Clark
And so it's like really splitting hairs to me. But based on like my emotional just my emotional attachment, I would say probably, you know, Mad Max to the Road Warrior would be the film closest to my heart, honestly. And then it's it's really close for me. I would between scream and Mad Max are so close yeah yeah that it's hard for me to even even split the two apart but Right.
01:05:43:06 - 01:05:49:06
Clark
Yeah but yeah well I mean any other any other parting thoughts as we read. I think this.
01:05:49:06 - 01:05:54:22
Cullen
Yeah I think, I think that's I've said all I can say, I mean I guess we could talk about these for ages but.
01:05:54:22 - 01:05:55:20
Clark
I know you could. We could.
01:05:55:20 - 01:05:57:07
Cullen
We don't want to go on for 10 hours.
01:05:57:22 - 01:06:18:15
Clark
Well, hey, it's like I think I made a mistake in the last episode where I. I miss. You know, you have to. When we post these, you, you fill in part of, like, the RSS feed information is the length. And I think I'm, I missed a typed in an extra number or something. So somebody had mentioned that they thought our last episode was 9 hours long.
01:06:18:18 - 01:06:36:10
Clark
Yeah. I was like, whoa, nobody wants to listen to us for 9 hours straight. Oh my goodness, let me fix that. But yeah, so before before we go on to 9 hours here, we'll wrap it up. But it's such a joy. I mean, you know, these films have been such an important part of my life, my film education, my inspiration.
01:06:36:15 - 01:06:55:04
Clark
So it's it's such a blast to to talk about them. I do want, you know, this one tiny thing that I want to add, just one tiny thing, because that's you know, we started off where we were, Herzog focused. It was, you know, Werner Herzog, 24 seven us in this podcast. This is really the second episode where we have expanded past that.
01:06:55:10 - 01:07:15:01
Clark
But I want to make a small, you know, something that really stood out to me. We talked about this many times in Herzog's films, and the importance that it is for him is this landscape of the soul. Right? And I think that these films here, these Mad Max films are just so at home with that. I mean it the landscape here is such a vital part of the storytelling.
01:07:15:08 - 01:07:39:05
Clark
George makes such an excellent job using the landscape, selecting the landscape to represent the Mad Max's soul. And I think he does an extraordinary job with these films. But that is some of the landscape he creates, like with Thunderdome. But much of it, of course, they scouted and found in Broken Hill in the outback in Australia. So it which someday I hope to visit.
01:07:39:13 - 01:07:42:17
Clark
But it's a beautiful place, a little bitty tie in, you know.
01:07:43:01 - 01:08:05:16
Cullen
And I think I think too, that just again, it's kind of like his final thoughts. If you've never seen them go, I would say, well, a watch them, but be like think a lot of people expect almost this like kind of cynical, post-apocalyptic like gray, you know, not very fun, very kind of almost depressing things. But there's so much fun like there is there are a lot of fun.
01:08:05:18 - 01:08:12:15
Clark
So much energy. I mean, yeah, they're very yeah, yeah. If you're a fan of film and visual storytelling, they're.
01:08:12:15 - 01:08:13:11
Cullen
Colorful and.
01:08:13:17 - 01:08:31:00
Clark
Are extraordinarily kinetic and they do have humor and they do have action and they are they are an especially by today's day and age and standards, these are not actually violent films. And in our era, I think they were considered violent. TV shows have ten times the violence.
01:08:31:09 - 01:08:32:09
Cullen
I look at game of Thrones.
01:08:32:09 - 01:08:52:17
Clark
Yeah. Oh, my God. I was even thinking just like. Like a network TV show. Oh, yeah. You know, but you're right. Game of Thrones is like, you know, like infinitely more than this. So don't be scared away by that. If you, you know, you're kind of there are I would say there are some scenes where there's some violence against some women characters that are difficult to watch and unpleasant.
01:08:52:17 - 01:09:13:12
Clark
Now, for sure, though, that was actually something that also kind of stood out to me. And it's obvious. Yeah, that's a big trope in a lot of these older films where to to like illustrate how bad a gang is or something. They will perpetrate violence against women and that can be shown graphically, which is which is very unpleasant and unsettling.
01:09:13:12 - 01:09:17:00
Clark
But but it doesn't go too far.
01:09:17:06 - 01:09:22:06
Cullen
No, it's not. It's not. I wouldn't say it's like grotesque or over-the-top. It's just it's there.
01:09:22:08 - 01:09:48:15
Clark
It's just there. And just by its very nature, it's like, unpleasant. Absolutely. So. Yeah. All right. Well, on that note, we'll wrap this one up. So. Yes. Mad Max. Mad Max two, The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. If you've not seen them, which is like, I can't imagine that you haven't go out and see them. So until next time, we really appreciate you listening.
01:09:48:15 - 01:09:58:04
Clark
We hope you enjoyed it as always. Colin, thank you so much for. Your enjoyable conversation and insight. This are always a blast for me to do.
01:09:58:14 - 01:09:59:12
Cullen
And yeah.
01:09:59:12 - 01:10:01:23
Clark
We'll see everybody next time.
01:10:02:00 - 01:10:04:22
Cullen
Yes. Bye bye.